“How long have you been here?” I ask.

“That depends,” Dante says, gesturing toward Jost and Erik. “We followed you immediately, but it took us a while to get word to those on Earth. We’re only beginning to get a handle on the situation. Thankfully the Agenda has spread throughout most of Arras, so we managed to regroup quickly.”

“So you’ve been here since the severance of the Eastern Sector?” I ask.

“We arrived not long after. You were already gone. Cormac practically handed the place over. It’s allowed us a safe place to plan, but some of us only arrived in the last few days. Falon got here yesterday.”

Falon glances up at the mention of her name, meeting Dante’s eyes and then quickly looking away. She flips her dark hair over her shoulder so that it covers her face like a curtain. Although Falon was the first person we encountered on Earth, I’d spent little time with her. Now I couldn’t tell if the cold shoulder she was giving us was aimed at me or Dante. She’d made it clear to me the last time I saw her that she didn’t appreciate Dante not keeping her in the loop. If she hadn’t known where he was until a few days ago, I understood her anger.

Dante had been here for weeks, along with Jost and Erik, and I hadn’t even known. I wonder for a moment whether Pryana and the Agenda at the Western Coventry had any clue. Probably not, I decide. The risk to the heart of the Agenda would have been too great. The more important an operation is, the more secret it needs to be, I suppose.

It seems Falon might not have known where Dante was either. I recognize the cold shoulder, especially since Erik is giving it to me, too.

“I have lots to tell you,” I say, trying to focus on something important instead of the ice spreading through my body in reaction to Erik’s dismissive behavior.

“Soon,” Dante says. He gestures for me to join him at a nearby table and as people clear a place for us I see that Einstein and Jax are there, too, discussing a complicated-looking equation scrawled across a sheet of paper. They’re busy making adjustments, each bickering about the other’s changes. It’s quite the sight—lanky young Jax taking on Albert with his lined face and decades of wisdom. Jax worked for Kincaid on Earth, but he’d been using his considerable intelligence to help the Agenda. He might have met his match with Albert though.

“Hello!” I call out, waving excitedly to them. Despite the surprise of all this and of Erik’s strange attitude, I’m genuinely pleased to see both of them.

“My young Whorl,” Albert says, his bushy eyebrows rising with his smile.

“It’s only been a month since you told me I was the Whorl, but I still don’t understand what it means,” I admit as I sink into the chair next to him.

“In time,” Albert says. “There is much to discuss.”

Like why Erik is acting as if he doesn’t know me. Or how the Agenda set up its headquarters in the Eastern Sector without Cormac even knowing about it. I’d especially like to know how they managed to rebound me away despite the security assigned to me.

“I’m sure you have a million questions,” Dante says, dropping into a seat across from me. “But we’re in the middle of an operation right now. We had to adjust our strategy to capture you when we got the intel you’d be rebounding.”

“How did you do it?” I ask. “I can barely go to the powder room by myself these days. My rebound should have been secure.”

“It’s nearly impossible to breach a secure rebound session,” Dante says.

“I know. But if it’s impossible, how did you do it?” I ask again.

“Nothing’s impossible for a Creweler,” a familiar voice says behind me.

I spin around in my seat, knowing that this is the one thing that should be impossible—even for a Creweler.

“I learned a few new tricks while you were away,” Loricel tells me.

“Such as how to come back to life?” I can’t keep the shock out of my question.

“Not even I can achieve that,” she says. Loricel purses her lips and stares like she expects better of me. Without her smart suit and done-up hair she reminds me of my grandmother. She looks smaller than the last time I saw her, as though the weight of things has deflated her. But I still have no doubt: she’s the most powerful woman I’ve ever known. “Did you think Cormac had the guts to terminate me?”

“He claimed he did,” I say.

“He tried, but you know Cormac. He’s a hoarder. If something shows the least bit of usefulness to him, he’ll keep it around just in case.” Loricel gives me a wink that’s anything but amused. I can tell she wants us to continue this conversation in private.

I want to ask how she escaped, but I decide to wait until she brings it up herself.

“What’s this mission?” I ask, recalling Dante’s statement.

“We’ve managed to gather some important intelligence from local sources and public records,” Dante tells me.

“Is it regarding Protocol Three?” I ask, hoping to finally have some answers.

“No,” Dante says slowly. “What do you know about Protocol Three?”

“It’s something I overheard Cormac say. It’s probably nothing to worry about,” I say. Dante doesn’t look convinced.

Jost speaks up behind me and somehow, despite everything that’s happened between us, I feel the fluttering of tiny wings in my chest at the sound of his voice. “We know where Sebrina is.”